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Theme Hospital (PC)
by professorlamp
Theme Hospital is another fine Bullfrog release. Bullfrog are a game development/production team who's focus was on quirky simulations with a slightly dark sense of humour. Theme Hospital fitted the bill perfectly.
A few other games in the franchise are Dungeon Keeper 1+2, Populous, Magic Carpet and also, the ever popular Theme Park ... series.
Theme Hospital was released in 1997 and is one of its kind, I have never seen a similar release.
***What is Theme Hospital?***
Theme Hospital is a hospital simulator which takes place over 13 levels of increasing difficulty and also includes a few bonus levels which involve humorously dealing with vermin problems.
The game revolves around placing buildings and rooms of different designations in order to cure illnesses. Once you have cured a certain amount of patients, maintained a reputation and a certain amount of cash, you have passed the level and the next level will certainly have higher targets to reach.
When you start the game, you are given an empty hospital and a budget, with this money you will buy all the buildings required and hire staff for each building. Certain buildings require different staff for instance;
Psychiatric ward - Here you will need to recruit one doctor who also has psychiatric training, placing a doctor without this training will result in nothing happening
Surgery - In the surgery you need TWO doctors with training in surgery. I find surgeons are the most sought after member of the hospital as they are quite hard to hire.
Research department - The research department is where you will discover new medicine, new buildings and also improve old treatment methods, here you will need a doctor with ample research training.
As soon as the game begins, it begins paused so that you can do some building and hiring before all of the patients come in and give you lots of grief. Aside from buying buildings during this period, you also recruit receptionists to book in the customers and drinks machines, radiators and plants to give your customers a better mood.
When customers have a better mood, you get a better reputation and this means more customers which means more money which means a better hospital which means more customers which means you finish the level!
***Who is the game not for?***
This game is not an action game and sometimes it is not particularly fast paced. If you are a gamer that likes to sit back and watch the game develop without your input all of the time then this is the game for you.
Rather contradictory to the above statement, the game often requires a large amount of your attention. There are times where you will have turn the heating down in order to finance your hospital for the upcoming year, take loans out for better equipment and employ cleaners to clean the hospital up and water your plants. The entire game is not focused around curing patients but rather has a centric focus on managing the hospital as a whole.
If this level of detail is putting you off slightly, don't be alarmed!
The first levels are user friendly and keen players who enjoy management WILL enjoy Theme Hospital.
***Downsides?***
I've tried to find a fault in Theme Hospital I really have. I have a few small things which might put off some players.
Tasteless - The game CAN be tasteless, you will see people physically vomit all over your floors and the description of illnesses is sometimes rather crude, as an example;
The illness - The Squits
The cause - Eating pizza found under the cooker
Whilst I myself find these funny, I can imagine some of the more mature players may not take as much of a shine to it.
The other fault I found (and this one is much more universally agreed) was with the menu system in the game itself. For a new player it may be a bit confusing to try and even quit the game. The menu hides away until your mouse happens to hover over the top of the screen. Again, this is a bit annoying as there is no mention of this, but even so, after 5 minutes of play that quibble is over.
In short: I love Theme Hospital and you should definitely buy it, it is cheap and hours of entertainment.
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Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars (PC)
by DooYou
This complex and highly rated graphic adventure comes from Revolution Software, authors of Lure of the Temptress and Beneath a Steel Sky. It begins innocently enough with George Stobbard, an American in Paris, sipping coffee outside a street cafe. His eye is caught by a macabre looking clown who dances past playing an eerie tune on his ... accordion. The clown enters the cafe and a few moments later, a huge blast explodes the cafe front clear away. Miraculously George is unhurt and stumbles to his feet. Through the smoke and dust he sees the clown running away, clutching a briefcase to his chest. Grateful for his life, George vows to avenge the violent actions of the clown and so becomes embroiled in a bizarre and sinister adventure that has roots casting back to the mysterious medieval order of The Knights Templars.
George sets off in search of a medieval manuscript which was created by the Knights Templar and holds the keys to their missing treasures and secrets. But on his way he encounters a group of megalomaniac Fascists and a frightening plot to re-shape the world. Our hero soon realises that he has become drawn into a sinister conspiracy and races against time to uncover and harness the legendary power of the Templar Knights.
Broken Sword represents a considerable advance in every aspect of adventure gaming and incorporates stunning graphics, advanced sprite movement, plus a compelling, sophisticated and original storyline steeped in historical legend and folk lore. It uses high-resolution graphics with smooth scrolling layers that offer a cinematic feel. Advanced sprite animation and manipulation allows for a wide variety of viewing angles which enhances the cinematic style of the game. The sprite cell animation has been created by a team of animators who've made ten classical cartoon sequences and given sprites both life and individual character. The very atmospheric soundtrack comes from Barrington Pheloung who's composed scores for films like Truly, Madly, Deeply and Nostradamus as well as the Inspector Morse TV series.
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Expendable (PC)
by DooYou
'Expendable' is a word you'll often find bandied about by military fat cats, pretty much in the same way as the now infamous 'collateral damage' is i.e. as a polite euphemism. I guess they think it sounds more warm and toasty than "hey, we don't care if you die - just so long as the job gets done", or something. Funny how it ... never seems to crop up in any of the recruitment literature though ain't it. It's a sentiment however that's apparently still alive and well in the 25th century too.
Man's insatiable curiosity has always been humanities greatest strength but conversely also our greatest weakness as well. By pushing ever further into the depths of space and terraforming suitable planets, man has solved many social and economic problems back on Earth, and hugely expanded our knowledge of the Universe too. But - you knew there had to be a but in there somewhere - our very industriousness has also brought us to the attention of some alien nasty types called the Charva, who seem rather partial to man's newly terraformed planets. Unsurprisingly, war soon commences.
The powers that be back on Earth have come up with a plan though. They have milked (if you'll excuse the pun) the cream of the human warrior gene pool to provide the seeds for hundreds of soldiers artificially grown in tanks aboard huge motherships, which are then sent to planets that have been overrun by the Charva. These 'expendables' are perfect killing machines, without emotion or morals, and interested only in the thrill of the hunt. It is your job to guide them into battle.
Those of you familiar with Rage's earlier title 'Incoming' (and if not, why not?) will know of their reputation for making games with simply luscious visuals, and they haven't let you down with Expendable - the graphics are truly jaw dropping. The explosions, sorry the word 'explosions' is just too inadequate, the pyrotechnic displays (much better) in Expendable are the best you'll see in any PC game yet released. Rage has also opted for a slightly less than top down viewing perspective, with the camera moving dynamically as events demand, giving the game that trendy cinematic feel.
The action in Expendable has a very arcade like flavour, with the emphasis very much on 'action'. While there are simple puzzles and items to collect, it's the wave after wave, of somewhat aggressive Charva charging at you that always grabs your attention; did I mention there's a time limit for each level too? If by some misfortune you don't finish the level within the allotted time, the Mothership, which is parked conveniently in orbit, will then come down and unleash the Armageddon weapon, completely destroying the planet AND you with it. Phew, talk about pressure!
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